Broken friendship
by Infinite's Ruby
Summary: "I just want to wish for a friend." Before Gadget became the hero of the Resistance, there was a time when a friendless young wolf made a wish upon a star. That wish would lead to him encountering a young jackal determined to prove that he wasn't weak. This is the tale of their unlikely friendship and how it ended. Discontinued.
1. Chapter 1

At seven years old Gadget knew that he was a nervous kid, for he didn't have any friends at the orphanage where he lived. To the rest of the kids at the orphanage, he was just the resident freak and his ears swiveled picking up the sound of the kids next door making a lot of noise. It was then followed by one of the kids or both of them banging on the walls to try and startle him.

"They're at it again. I've tried complaining, but it didn't work."

The wolf let out a low sigh of sadness. The last time he'd asked the kids in the next room over to please keep it down he'd been given a look like he'd stepped in something dirty and the door was slammed in his face followed by muffled sounds of laughter.

The room was simple for it consisted of a window and two beds not too far apart from each other. Gadget walked across the wooden floorboards, past a bed that was covered in mechanical parts and oil stains stained the white sheets turning them black from the stains. The blanket and pillows had been moved off to the bed and in a small pile in the middle of the room.

Gadget edged his way past the discarded blanket and pillow making his way towards the window where he fiddled with the latch on the window pane and he pushed the window open welcoming the cool November air that gently blew into the room and he could see that the stars were particularly bright tonight.

Gadget looked out into the inky blackness where he spied the single star amongst the small cluster of stars that stood out against the black nighttime sky and it was the one that seemed to shine the brightest out of them all and Gadget felt a longing in his heat. In the past he'd wished on this star, he didn't want fame or money.

The one thing that the young red wolf wanted was a friend.

"Hey uh it's me again. I know that I'm a little too old to wish upon a star, but Chad and his gang went after me again and slammed me face first into a wall and they pushed me down the stairs again." Gadget winced looking down at his bandaged right arm. It still ached he felt the dull throbbing through the bandage.

He let out a low sigh closing his eyes recalling the incident which occurred earlier that day.

Gadget hummed a small tune walking along the hallway leaving the mess hall his attention was focused on the small metallic device that rested in the palm of his white gloves.

"It's almost finished. The grappling hook prototype." the wolf yawned making sure to cover his hand with his mouth like the Marton was always telling him to do when he had to yawn.

He knew that his falling asleep in class again was going to get him scolded again. And yet he was so close to finishing the Grappling hook prototype, his pet project for the last three months. He made his way up the stairs lost completely in thought.

"I stayed up late last night, but it's almost time for its first test run." Gadget's attention was still drawn to his invention in progress that he didn't look up from the Grappling hook and he bumped into something.

"Well lookie here guys it's the little freak."

Gadget's fur paled ever so slightly, he made eye contact with Chad a crimson furred maned wolf with green eyes and a short black mane residing between his ears. He wore deep grey gloves and beige hiking boots.

The second member was Mara a jackal her sharp amber eyes who gazed at Gadget hungrily was dressed in a black sleeveless shirt and torn jeans. With a white mohawk between her ears. She wore white gloves and dark blue running shoes.

The last member rounding out the trio was Aster a plump dark brown furred coyote with deep blue eyes. He wore black gloves with black and gold spiked bracelets adoring his writs and he wore light green hiking boots.

Gadget swallowed nervously. Ever since he'd turned five years old he'd been the favorite target of the orphanage bullies where every lunchtime they would steal food from the other orphans, and they would sometimes even break into the other kid's rooms just to steal what little possessions they had.

"Whatcha ya got there?" Before Gadget could even respond Chad had reached out plucking the prototype out of his hands where the wolf yelped in alarm prompting Mara to step forward placing herself between her leader curling her upper lip slightly as a warning causing the young wolf to fall back.

"It looks like that it's one of Gadget's little toys." Chad sneered tossing it to Aster who caught it, looking over at Gadget the small smile never leaving his face.

"He thinks that he's gonna be some big shot inventor someday!" Aster sneered. Before Gadget could even make a move to grab his invention back from Aster only to feel Mara roughly grab him, the next thing he felt was being slammed into the wall, the force of the impact nearly knocked him senseless.

He felt his glasses crack feeling Mara's hot breath on the back of his neck. "Don't move little wolf if you know what's good for you."

Chad and Aster were laughing at the wolf's suffering Mara's hand clamping around his snout in a tight grip preventing him from calling out for help.

"Oh please everyone knows that he's weak." He heard the low chuckle from Mara she looked over at her shoulder, she saw Chad nod at her with a small grin on his face.

"I think that our little "Inventor" needs to learn how the stairs work!"

At the maned wolf's command Gadget, was pushed down the stairs tumbling head over heels, his body colliding with the hard wooden stairs he heard a sharp crack in his right wrist the bones snapping inside of it pain flooding through the young wolf's body as his ordeal lasted a couple of more minutes before he came to a stop lying crumpled at the bottom of the stairs in a bruised heap.

The sharp prick of tears forming at the corner of his eyes from the pain of his right wrist and he tried to move it only to yelp in pain.

Something was thrown to the bottom of the stairs colliding with the ground. Gadget slowly lifted his head up through his blurry tearstained eyes lay the remains of the broken prototype of his grappling hook.

"No all of my work."The wolf whimpered hearing the cruel laughter of his tormentors from high up above.

"Have nice trip see ya next fall!"Chad's voice called down. "Oh, and don't you even dare tell anyone about this, because if you do..." the threat hung in the air and Gadget didn't need to see the look of anger on the maned wolf's face and he could do was nod pitifully.

The sounds of their footsteps at the top of the stairs faded away leaving the poor wolf lying battered and bruised. He tried to move his arm only to feel a sharp pain coursing through his right wrist prompting a yelp of pain.

What followed next was one of the worst things in his young life. He heard the sound of one of the orphanage staff running over to where he was exclaiming in shock at the bruised and battered young wolf who silently sobbed at the loss of his prototype, thus resulting in three months of work down the drain.

Gadget shook away the memory. There was no good in dwelling on the past. The cool breeze felt soothing on his face easing his bruised body.

According to the nurse, his right wrist was broken for he was lucky to be alive after being pushed down the recovery time for his broken wrist to heal fully would be six weeks.

"Can you please tell me who did this to you Gadget?" The nurse questioned him. He slowly closed his eyes trembling with fear. He couldn't tell anyone. He knew that Chad wasn't bluffing that the next time he went after Gadget it would be worse.

The cool night air drew Gadget out of his train of thought looking up towards the sky again.

"Look I know that you're up there doing starry things, but I'm not going to burden you. I just want to wish for a friend." Gadget let out a low sad sigh closing the window and he slowly made his way back to his bed where his gaze fell onto the other vacant bed in the middle of the room.

"I know that I've asked you a couple of times, but please make it happen this time?"

A pair of voices could be heard coming from the hallway causing Gadget's ear to swivel around catching the sound.

He closed the window hurrying across the room. There was a new arrival that'd just arrived at the orphanage today. There was a small hope that maybe the star had heard him this time he would have someone to share the room with. He inhaled deeply feeling his heart racing with excitement placing a hand on the door inhaling deeply pressing his ear to it.

"Eeeww I have to share a room with that freak? No thanks!"

Gadget pushed the door open ever so slightly to see a young bear girl clad in some denim jeans and a red shirt over her skinny frame a mop of brown hair on her head glaring at the Matron a middle-aged cat with faded lime green fur scowl ever so slightly folding her arms over her chest narrowing her eyes at the young bear girl.

She made her displeasure known towards the bear's attitude. Everyone knew she was a figure of authority in the orphanage and Gadget knew that she tried her best, but there were some kids that not even she could control by words alone.

"He is not a freak dear and that is quite rude." Gadget shut the door and he felt the familiar sting of the tears that started to creep down his face, leaning his back against the door sighing sadly the disappointment nearly overwhelming him.

Gadget had lived in this orphanage his whole life; no one would tell him who his parents were, any potential adoptive parents had taken one look at him rejecting him instantly, breaking his heart even further.

"No wonder mummy and daddy gave me up." It was the truth. According to the owner of the orphanage, he'd been found on the orphanage's doorstep as a baby wrapped up in crimson blankets and a single note had been pinned to the blanket with a name "Gadget."

"They're right. I am a freak, useless and I'm a coward."

"I know that the star's not listening." Gadget said letting his head droop down pushing himself up off the floor making his way to the bed pulling back the sheets getting out of his bed making his way over to an old poster of Sonic the Hedgehog hanging on the wall.

Sonic the Hedgehog says don't give up on your dreams! Keep moving forward! The poster blared.

"For all my short life I've dreamt of being a famous hero, like Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles Tails Prower, Amy Rose and Knuckles the Echidna."

Gadget felt the crushing realization that he would never have someone in his room to talk with to laugh and to swap stories. He'd been following accounts of the world famous Sonic the Hedgehog ever since that first renowned clash against the mad scientist Doctor Eggman.

His most treasured possession was a newspaper clipping about Sonic's latest victory over the notorious Doctor Eggman clipping had been given to him by the Matron as a present for his fifth birthday.

"What would I give to be a famous hero, just like Sonic."

Meanwhile far out in the desert past Green Hill a single figure trudged through the cool desert sands at night at a fast pace his breath came out in short gasps risking a glance back over his shoulder at the distance they had traveled wherein the distance he could barely make out the tall rocky outcroppings that made up the spires of his village.

The young jackal came to a stop panting for breath a pair of mismatched eyes gazed up at the sky as the moonlight beamed down through the clouds lighting up the sands all around him. He looked down at his sides scowling at the stripeless fur. He curled his muzzle cursing whatever screwed up genetics that ran in his family's bloodline, which resulted in the lack of stripes on his body.

'This is the worst birthday ever." In the days leading up to his birthday despite ignoring the insistence from his Aunt that his stripes would come in time, he'd tried various ways such as buying a tonic from a shady fox which resulted in him being violently sick for the last two days much to his siblings' amusement.

"I'm not going to fail this trial. I'm not weak; I'm not weak."

The young jackal looked back disdainfully at the village again he'd just left earlier that evening when the sun had just started to go down. The trial that his father had set him was simple.

All the young jackal had to do was to cross the desert in a single night with no food and no water. Every young jackal had done this trial according to his father for there was no room in the jackal clan for weakness or deformity which meant that he'd been looked down on because he had a blue eye and it didn't help that his tail was slightly bigger then all of the other jackal's tails were.

"It's a tough test. One that only that the strongest of jackals can pull off." The young jackal let his mind wander back to earlier that afternoon where his father covered in many battle scars led the young jackal across the village to the village's entrance flanked by a pair of older jackal pups who bore their stripes proudly.

Saharais was known as a travel hub, and an assortment of jackals, foxes, wolves, and coyotes was said to have made their home in the harsh desert landscape.

"What happens to those that can't cross the desert and reach Green Hill Zone when the sun rises?"

An older female jackal who merely scowled at him she held out a hand preventing with a younger jackal pup with a green bandana wrapped around his ears trying to reach his older brother with something akin to fear and sadness in his eyes.

"Tell him, Cassius. If that little freak dies so be it."

"They die. As so should weak pups who stripes don't appear when they turn ten years old. Cassius sneered casting a look back at the younger jackal pup who fell against his mother's side with a whimper, where she kept her face emotionless ushering Kaito away from his potentially doomed half-sibling. "Well see if Kaito undertakes the trial when he's ten years old."

Zerinn's mother had died shortly after giving birth to his older siblings, and Zerinn was the youngest of the litter. Soon after his mother's death, Cassius had married Kaito's mother who worked as a barmaid in a local bar.

A couple of years after they'd married later when Zerinn was three years old she had given birth to a single pup, and she had named him Kaito.

"You're his half-brother and stop that whimpering!" A sharp slap signaled Kaito's struck followed by a pained jackal pup's howl. Zerinn flattened his ears a low growl escaped from his muzzle. No one, not even that bitch Sera ever hurt the one member of his family that he genuinely liked.

"I'll cross the desert in a night and make it to Green Hill Zone before the sun rises, I'll show you that I'm not as weak as you keep on saying I am."

"Oh, we'll see about that Zerinn. "Cassius informed his son, the small cruel smirk that appeared on his snout the sun was going down and Zerinn edged around his father aware, his two older siblings stepped closer to him leveling a pair of spears right at his chest.

"I'd get going if I were you."

"Get going little brother." His older sister said in a singsong voice.

Zerinn shook away the memory. No his father was wrong. He wasn't weak. He was strong. He was about to prove that to everyone. He was almost there; he looked up at the moon high up in the sky for he judged that it was close to two in the morning. The green hills were just in sight, and he couldn't afford to waste any more time.

"Okay, I'm almost at Green Hill Zone," Infinite said inhaling before he broke into another run. Zerinn ran across the desert sands kicking up small clouds of sand the wide smile was on his face for he felt the sand give way to the smooth, soft grass that was underneath his feet. "I'm almost there."

He then felt the first wave of exhaustion hit him slowing to a stop bending over his mouth was open panting forcing oxygen into his oxygen-starved lungs, his muscles screamed in pain from exhaustion.

He ignored the growl of his stomach rumbling in hunger along with his dry, parched throat. The faint trails of sweat ran down through his fur; he collapsed lying on his side looking up at the moon. The white glow shone down on him. His mind had to be playing tricks on him for it looked like that a star appeared to be shining brighter than usual?

"I did it. I crossed the desert in one night." Zerinn said resting on the sweet-smelling grass for he could no longer fight the wave of exhaustion that swept over him before he felt his eyes beginning to close for he was on the verge of unconsciousness.

"I'm not weak. I proved you, wrong father."

With a triumphant smile on his face, Zerinn finally succumbed to exhaustion the last of his strength giving way to the warm blackness that rushed up to greet him.

The dog sighed in irritation sweeping her torch beam over the green grassy grounds where she rubbed her temples. Being a night guard for the Park Avenue orphanage was hard work as it was, but it was a way to put food on the table as her parents used to saying.

She swung the torch around looking for any kids that were attempting to run away from the orphanage to cause mischief and trouble in the surrounding town.

"I just had to lose at Poker. " The dog growled to herself taking careful steps in the area. She lifted her torch carefully swinging it around. "Who would be crazy enough to be out this late in the middle of the night?"

The dog's question went unanswered for soon the golden glow of the torch picked up the limp form of the jackal that lay so still his thin sides rose and fell with uneven breaths.

"Oh, my Chaos! I don't believe it!" the Nightguard fumbled for her radio as she grappled with it raising it to her ear.

"Park Avenue orphanage come in. I've found a young jackal pup, who appears to be no more than ten years old in Green Hill Zone." The dog listened gauging the still jackal's still form. "I'll bring him to the orphanage."

The dog raced forward placing a hand gently on the young jackal's ribs feeling them rise and shrink with slow, steady breaths. "The Jackal appears to be dehydrated, and I don't think he's had any food yet."

She reached for the small bottle of half drunk water, and she gently poured it into her hand the cooling liquid gently dripping onto the jackal's muzzle who let out a low moan opening his eyes where he tried to push himself up only for a gentle had to push him down. She could see that the jackal was shaking so slightly from the cold since it didn't look like that his adult coat had come in yet, she wrapped him up in her jacket keeping Zerinn warm.

"Easy, here you need to drink." the bottle was placed on Zerinn's lips and he swallowed greedily feeling the cold water slipping down his throat licking his dry lips to moisten them.

"Do you have some more water?" Zerrin croaked letting out a single cough. His instincts screamed at him not to accept anything from a stranger. He needed to drink soothing his parched throat.

"I have no more water." The crackle of the static caused her to prick her ears reaching for the radio cradling it in her hand. She held it in the palm of her hand seeing Zerinn watching her warily his head sagging with exhaustion.

"Copy that Rosa. We've informed the Matron that you're bringing in the young jackal." The voice on the radio spoke in an authoritative voice where Rosa nodded bending down to gather the small pup in her arms as she carefully hefted him off the ground making sure to support his head. The young jackal was unconscious again, the only sign that he was still alive was the rise and fall of his chest.

"Easy little fella. You'll be safe soon." Rosa spoke assuring herself and the unconscious jackal. She looked over at the small hill that bordered Green Hill Zone and the desert regions of Saharais where the jackals were said to roam. It was strange. Jackals rarely ventured from Saharais' borders. It was very odd to find a jackal pup all alone out here.

She took a closer look at the jackal's fur to her knowledge jackal pups didn't usually get their stripes in until they were ten years old and if they didn't then, there was a barbaric trial traveled across the desert in an attempt to reach Green Hill Zone.

She'd remembered seeing the bodies of the jackal pups who'd succumbed the harsh cold nights of the desert. She'd heard stories from her colleagues who'd had to bury the dead jackal pups out in the cold sands.

"You poor thing." She mumbled tucking her coat around the young jackal pup, gently massaging him with one hand to try and warm him up at least.

Rosa said walking away making sure to secure Zerinn beginning to make the long trek back to the Park Avenue orphanage. Under the glow of the moon a star that seemed to shine brighter then any other, no one had any idea that two very different Mobians's lives were now on a collision course and all because of one wolf's little wish.

* * *

 **Disclaimer I do not own anyone since everything is copyrighted to Sega/Sonic Team.**

 **A/N This little fic based on a theory that was floating around the internet and the general gist of this theory was that the Avatar and Infinite knew each other and I really liked this theory, and then Forces came out, and it was debunked. I do have some headcanons for Gadget, Infinite and the rest of the Jackal Squad.**

 **A couple of my headcanons that I have for Gadget is that he invented the grappling hook pistol himself and he was bullied a lot when he was a kid.**

 **For those who are wondering why I went with Zerinn for Pre Infinite's name, it's because I couldn't decide whether to name him Finn who is the most common name I've seen for PreInfinite or to go with his prototype name Zero in early development for Forces I opted to combine the two names.**

 **This is going to be a standalone story which is going to tie into the Illusionary resistance which will be coming within the next week.**

 **So the idea that Zerinn's parents were abusive was based on a conversation I had with ToxicSpeka. They had some cool headcanons about jackal society, and I liked them.**

 **Zerinn and Gadget are going to meet in the next chapter, and I have plans for them both.**

 **Thoughts and reviews are very much appreciated.**


	2. Chapter 2

Zerinn felt warm, he no longer felt the cold desert winds battering his body, he slowly opened his eyes his bleary vision meeting a pillow. There was a warm soft blanket that was on top of him. Zerrin slowly turned his head rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, realizing that he was in a proper bed.

He looked around his surroundings realizing that he was in a small room with a small bowl of oatmeal and a glass of water resting not too far from his bed on a small desk side table. There was weak sunlight filtering in through the closed window giving off a small homely vibe.

The last thing he could recall was crossing the vast desert that led to Green Hill Zone, the icy cold water being poured down his throat. Him fighting through the exhaustion that was making him weak. He shuddered at the thought that he was weak. Well, he'd completed the trial, his whole family would have to admit that maybe he wasn't weak.

"Where am I?" Zerinn looked down at the pillow, confusion masking his features sitting up pushing the blanket off his body. He slowly slipped out of the bed, a warm sweet smell hit his nostrils. He looked over to his right to see a bowl of freshly made porridge sitting on the small table with a bit of brown stuff in it with a glass of water.

He walked over to the bowl picking up the spoon. He'd recognized the smell of oatmeal and he dug the spoon into the porridge and he took a bite of it along with the brown stuff.

It took him a moment for his taste buds to register the sweet taste as chocolate. The last time he'd ever eaten chocolate was a couple of years ago when he'd stolen some as a treat for Kaito's fifth birthday party.

Zerinn consumed the rest of the oatmeal along with the chocolate for it felt nice and warm in his stomach. He settled back on the bed lying on his side, greedily drinking the water sating his hunger and thirst.

"Ah, I see that you're awake at last."

The young jackal pinned his ears back at the matron a low growl formed in the back of his throat. He kept his gaze on the Matron his tail swishing back and forth in a cautious manner.

"Easy little one. You're in the Park Avenue Orphanage, and the person who brought you in told me everything."

Zerrin kept his ears folded back in annoyance. Trust a dog to stick her nose in his business where it wasn't wanted and he knew that lying about the fact that he had no family wouldn't work. He knew that Orphanages would on occasion hold adoption days. He wondered if he could pass himself off as an orphan then he would never ever have to see anyone from his birth family ever again.

"So what do I have to do to get adopted?"

The matron hesitated she slowly pulled out a small piece of paper from her sleeve and she kept her face emotionless for cats were known to do this, yet Zerrin saw the doubt in her eyes. Of course, jackals weren't exactly viewed as trustworthy and there had been stories where they could backstab anyone in a heartbeat.

"We did receive a letter from your father and that they'll be coming for you in a month."

A month that would be plenty of time to rest and then make a run for it. Zerrin decided at that moment. It would be tempting, he would never have to go back to Saharais.

His parents hated him anyway, his siblings loved to harass him, and treated with suspicion all because of his heterochromia and the fact he was considered to be the weakest jackal pup in all of Saharais.

 _What about Kaito? Would I really leave him behind?_ Zerrin thought to himself. The small bubble of shame crept around his heart forcing him to sigh. He'd been so caught up in the idea of abandoning his younger half-sibling, no he couldn't do that. He saw the Matron eying him thoughtfully a small knowing smile crept onto her face and it made him a little nervous.

"Okay I'll stay, not that I have a choice," Zerin grumbled. "I have to room with someone is that it?"

The letter had been very clear that this poor young jackal's father wanted him to remain there or else, and an idea formed in the Matron's mind. Maybe perhaps this jackal would be less defensive with someone to open up too and maybe even become friends with that person.

"I believe that I have the perfect roommate for you."

Gadget finished his breakfast in his room brought up to him by one of the nurse's assistants and eating with one hand was tricky. He ended up spilling more of the porridge onto his own fur than into his mouth. With a sigh, he set the half-eaten porridge bowl down onto the ground making his way over to the bathroom to wash off the oatmeal still stuck to his fur

Gadget looked around at the messy room with the disheveled sheets. the second bed that was in the room had all sorts of mechanical parts piled up on the top of the bed The broken prototype of his grappling hook lay there as a reminder of his low self-esteem.

"Maybe I really should tidy this room." Gadget said resting his uninjured hand on his left hip surveying the room then he let out another sad sigh. "Then again I'm never getting a roommate so what's the point?"

Gadget made his way towards the door with the floorboards creaking underneath his weight. What he sighed for it was going to be another day of ignored, and maybe fate would be kind to him and not have Chad's group attack him for once, and he would have a stress free day.

He rested his uninjured hand against the door slowly pushing it open only to feel something splat on his face causing him to cringe. A creampie of course. It was how he would be greeted and there was only one group of Mobians would pull this kind of prank on him.

"Morning loser! Nothing like a cream pie to the face to start the day!" this statement was followed by howls of laughter prompting Gadget to wipe away the remains of the creampie. Chad, Mara, and Aster stood in the hallway all three of them were in hysterics at what had just occurred to Gadget.

"Good one Chad, the little runt didn't even see what hit him." Aster's voice cut through the air as Chad waved off his friend's comment.

"Haha yeah, it's not like I saw that one coming. A Pie to the face. Okay, can I go now?" Gadget asked hoping to dart past his tormentors only for a searing pain to surge up his right arm. Chad was gripping his right wrist the pain coursing up his arm. The next instant the wolf was shoved hard into the wall feeling Mara's fingers reaching out to grab his glasses tearing them away from the young wolf's face.

"Look who it is," The foul breath hit Gadget in the face where Chad looked over at Mara who sent a smirk the maned wolf's way."The freak who truly believes that he's going to be a great hero like Sonic."

"Toss 'em this way boss!" Chad obliged as the jackal caught it effortlessly and she saw Aster grin holding out his hands begging for the glasses to be thrown to him which Mara did cause the coyote to giggle.

"Aww, little Gadget's blind without his glasses." Aster sneered tossing them over back to Chad who caught them with the other hand keeping a tight grip on Gadget's broken wrist squeezing it causing the wolf to yelp out in pain.

"Listen good and listen well freak." Gadget staggered up gasping in pain feeling Chad shove his face right up against Gadget's face.

"You have no friends; the Matron only took you in because your weirdo parents abandoned you." Chad sneered. A sudden commotion echoed through the room where the door was flung open and a blurry black and white blur ran through the room heading straight for Aster pushing into him landing a punch onto the startled coyote.

"Hey! What do you think that you're doing?!" Gadget could hear Mara's furious yell as the figure punched her snatching Gadget's glasses away from her. Then he ducked her attempt to furiously grab his tail and stomp on it.

"A jackal doesn't turn on their own kind!" Mara barked hearing the other jackal scoff. "You don't even have your stripes yet!"

"Picking on a kid that can't even see without his glasses? That's pathetic." The second jackal spoke as Chad released his hold on Gadget running over to help Mara ignoring the other jackal in the process as Gadget felt an almost gentle touch on his arm.

"Here you go." Gadget slipped on his glasses and for the first time, he was able to make out his savior. He was a young jackal just like Mara, his short white dreadlocks hung down behind his head. He didn't appear to have his stripes yet, but the most striking thing about the jackal in front was the mismatched eyes. The left one was bright yellow as per the norm for jackals, but the one on the right was a deep blue.

"Thank you and what's your name?"

"Zerinn." The jackal replied holding a hand helping Gadget up to his feet.

"Thanks for the save and you didn't have to do that." Gadget said now that he could see that his savior was no more than ten years old for he placed himself between Gagdet and the low growl that came from Mara her ears were pinned back a common threat gesture amongst jackals. Zerinn kept clam flexing his claws in eagerness for a fight.

Of course, Gadget felt like an idiot. Jackals were known as nomadic thieves and scavengers who lived in a town far out in the desert only known as Saharais. To have a jackal here of all places was a rarity since they never traveled far from the desert lands. Expect if a jackal pup hadn't developed their stripes by the time they were ten years old they had to undergo a trial in crossing the vast desert and not many jackal pups survived the trial.

"Hey, fresh meat! This is my orphanage and you bow down to me freak!"

"I've dealt with your type before. Zerrin smirked back eying Chad's gang. Three dumbasses that have to gang up on a kid."

"Yeah, and you're just a bastard mismatched eye stripless freak that no one wanted," Mara snarled standing up to her full height where Zerinn simply placed himself between Gadget and Chad's gang prompting the maned wolf to snarl."Freaks like you should rot in the desert and die!"

"Oh, you've just made a big mistake here new guy. St-"

"What in all of Chaos is going on here?" The Matron's appeared walking down the hallway her mouth set in a scowl at the sight in front of her. Chad to shoot one last glare at Gadget and Zerinn. The look of pure loathing in his eyes made it clear that it wasn't over. Zerrin simply held his ground while Gadget saw that there was no fear at all in his eyes.

"Nothing Matron. We were just getting to know the new kid that's all." Chad replied in where the Matron simply shook her head. "Well, then I do hope that you weren't picking on Gadget again." Matron spoke her eyebrow slightly raised.

"No Matron we weren't," Chad said his tone unconvincing. Chad, Aster, and Mara turned on their heels with Chad turning around and made a throat-slitting gesture at both Gadget and Zerinn. "Next time freaks you won't be so lucky."

Gadget heard the low scoff that emitted from Zerinn's mouth. Gadget felt a gentle tug at his arms where Zerinn was pulling him gently to his feet."Next time you

"Ah, Gadget I see that you've met Zerinn. He's going to be your new roommate."

Gadget looked over in shock his brain struggling to register what'd been said. Was someone actually willing to stay in the same room with him?

"Heh, you went and spoiled the surprise Matron. Yeah, I was rescued from the desert last night and it wasn't like I had no place else I could go." Zerinn said with a small smile on his face. He shifted from one foot to the other. He hadn't planned to step in at all.

However after witnessing the way that the wild dog, jackal, and coyote were bullying Gadget it reminded him of all the times Kaito had been pciked on by his older half-siblings and he would see his younger half-brother covered in bruises whimpering in silence in their shared room.

Gadget began to tremble. The wish that he'd made on the star, his wish had come true. He wasn't thinking for he suddenly ran forward wrapping his arms around Zerinn drawing him into a hug.

"Wh-whoa! We've just met." The young jackal was surprised, but deep down he felt a small pulse of warmth go through his entire being. He'd been hugged by his own younger half-brother Kaito a few times, only in private because physical affection was a weakness according to his parents, but to be hugged by someone else who wasn't a member of his family, it felt nice.

"Okay that's enough, get off me." Zerinn could breathe when he felt Gadget let go again, for the young red wolf's tail was wagging hard enough that it looked like could fall off at any moment.

"I'll show you around here and our room's kind of a mess, but let's go!" the seven-year-old was eager, which he walked ahead waiting for his new friend to follow him.

"I'm really getting too old for this. It's good to see Gadget happy." The Matron turned on her heel. It was good to see that Gadget would finally have a friend, and yet there was a question that weighed heavily on her mind.

"I do hope that young jackal won't be a bad influence on him."

For the rest of the day, it was one of the best days in all of Gadget's life. He'd shown Zerrin the recreational room, the classroom where they had lessons, the dining hall and the gardens where they could relax in supervised by a pair of older Mobians who kept an eye on the children.

The young jackal grimaced a bit at the mention of a classroom and studying, but he relaxed when the two of them climbed up the stairs. It was 8:50 PM and the orphans had to be in bed at 21:00 PM per the orphanage rules.

For once it had been a good dinner as Chad's group had glowered at both Zerinn and Gadget from their table in the middle of the mess hall, but they hadn't been able to bother them at all.

"So then do you have any family?"

The question caught Zerinn off guard. "Yeah I do, a father, a stepmother, an Aunt, a couple of older siblings, and a younger half-brother whose my stepmother's son."

"Oh, so your mother died then?" Gadget inquired seeing the jackal tighten his grip slightly on the wooden stair's rails his claws digging into the wooden surface. His birth mother's death was a sore subject since all he could remember about her was that she died when he was still a baby. His father would constantly blame him for her death for there had been complications during the birthing process.

"Yeah she did and I really don't care for most of my family except for my young half-brother Kaito." The response was curt. There was no way that this wolf had any living relatives. "What about you Gadget?"

"I really don't have a family. I've kind of grown up here my whole life." Gadget replied looking sad for a moment, taking in a deep breath his chest rising and falling to calm himself pressing a hand on the wooden door as it swung open revealing the simple bedroom. Zerinn couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the sight of the oil-stained bed with the parts scattered all over it and at the pile of blankets along with the single pillow in the middle of the room.

"I'm sorry that it's a bit of a mess and well I'd thought that I would never have anyone in here."

Zerinn let out a chuckle an amused expression on his face. Gagdet felt his crimson fur get even redder than it normally did. He couldn't help it, he felt like he was meant to invent stuff and he had to wonder if the jackal thought that he was crazy. He'd been ignoring the nagging feeling that maybe he could've tidied up the place a little.

"I'm fine with the pile of blankets and pillow," Zeriin said walking up to the pile, positioning the pillow where his head would go. Then he placed one of the blankets underneath his body. He then pulled back the first of the blankets then crouching low he slipped into his makeshift bed making sure that he was comfortable. "The mess doesn't bother me that much anyway."

"Again thank you for what you did today." the wolf spoke noticing how quickly the jackal looked at him from his bed. A small smile was on his face. He was content and his roommate was a little strange, but still, he could tell that the young wolf pup had no malicious intentions and genuinely wanted a friend.

"It's fine. Let's get some sleep."

Zerinn let out a low breath settling back into his makeshift bed watching the young wolf do the same, a small content smile was on his face. Gadget knew that he would be sleeping well tonight. Gadget soon fell into a warm gentle sleep. Zerinn soon fell asleep, there would be no vivid dreams, but that was good in his opinion.


	3. Chapter 3

The first thing that indicated to Gadget that it was morning was the gentle rays of morning light along with the cool breeze flowing into the room, and he moaned slowly opening his eyes, noticing that the window was open which was odd.

Gadget put the notion that the window was open out of his mind for the moment slowly reaching for his glasses with his uninjured arm. He'd had the best night's sleep he'd ever had. He let out a low yawn; he wasn't quite awake yet. Was it his imagination or did the clock on the wall say that it was 8:10 AM?

 _That was a good dream that I had last night. Someone wanted to be my roommate._

The young wolf mused to himself looking around the room for Zerrin. He looked over at the pile of blankets noticing that they were pushed back, the only indication that Zerrin had even been in the room were a few jackal hairs on the white sheet.

"Zerrin?!" The young wolf bent down to his knees carefully pulling back the blankets with his uninjured hand in case he was hiding underneath them to give Gadget a little scare.

"Gadget!"

Gadget quickly made his way to the window poking his head out it placing his uninjured hand on the window sill to prevent himself from falling out of listening for where Zerrin's' voice.

He looked down seeing a flash of black and white fur to see the jackal was climbing up the ivy that grew on the side of the building with a small burlap sack attached to his back. The jackal had a little smirk on his face. There were clumps of dirt stuck to the young jackal's claws indicating the jackal had been digging in the ground.

"Zerinn what's in the sack?" Gadget asked wondering if it would be rash of him to accuse Zerrin of stealing from the orphanage's kitchens. The jackal had come from Saharais a town that was rumored to be full of thieves, cutthroats, and mercenaries that would either rob or kill a random Anthro if they happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time within the walls of the desert town.

"Just our breakfast from the orchard that those losers guard."

"Wait it came from Chad's Orchard?!" Gadget fought to keep the shock from his voice failing miserably. The young jackal climbed up the last few meters entering their shared room through the window where he turned around closing the window, then upending the sack sending out a few Oranges, Apricots and Apples rolling onto the window sill.

"I doubt that they'll notice that a few pieces of fruit are missing," Zerinn replied taking a bite of the Apricot chewing, then swallowing. "I dug a hole underneath the fence," Zerinn added in by way of an explanation.

Gadget opted for an Orange. Gadget carefully maneuvered the peel of the orange away from the flesh of the fruit with his uninjured hand consuming a segment of the orange. A sweetness that he'd never experienced before washed over his mouth. He removed the rest of the peel form from the fruit setting it down then consuming the rest of the fruit.

Dread gnawed at Gadget's stomach. The fact that Zerrin had humiliated Chad's gang yesterday and today he'd stolen fruit from the orchard that was the property of Chad, he couldn't envision the maned wolf waving of the second insult so soon after the first one.

"Zerinn I know that you want to get back at the-"

"I know that it's wrong to steal." Zerrin interrupted Gadget not making eye contact removing the stone from the Apricot tossing it off to the side hearing it clatter against the floor. "Sometimes to survive in this cruel world, you have to fight back against those who hurt you."

Gadget paused. The wolf had no idea that someone so young could even think that way. Something terrible must've happened to make Zerrin hold that belief since the expression on the young jackal's face was one of slight indifference.

"Today's Monday, and I'm guessing that we have to go to have lessons?" Zerinn asked making the disdain in his tone clear huffing in irritation.

"Well yeah, we do. It's to ensure that we get an education and I'm sure that you're not dumb." Gadget said earnestly looking at Zerrin's mismatched eyes.

"Your eyes they're..." Gadget trailed off seeing the jackal clench his fist pinning his ears back against his head his lips were beginning to pull back forming a snarl. It was a touchy subject Gadget realized too late, and he swallowed nervously. He felt like a deer in the headlights with the jackal watching him with narrowed eyes.

"What about them? Are you going to say that I'm a freak too?"

"No, I like your eyes. They're unique really!" Gadget was quick to hold up his hands in a peaceful gesture seeing the jackal's ears twitch in surprise the snarl fading from his lips, his fists unclenching at the unexpected compliment.

"Heh, that's the first time that anyone's ever said something nice about my eyes."

There was a small genuine smile on the young jackal's face. Gadget relaxed. Good, the Jackal wasn't going to attack him. Both Gadget and Zerrin heard the sound of the electric bell in the hallway indicating that morning lessons were just about to begin signaling the young wolf and jackal to leave their room.

Both of them were silent as Zerrin followed Gadget down the steps staying a couple of steps behind him. The wolf carefully walked down the stairs his left hand gripping the railing to make sure that he didn't slip and fall down the stairs running the risk of breaking any more bones in his body as the two of them reached the bottom of the stairs without any form of incident.

"It's down the corridor to the right."

The two of them made their way down to the corridor coming to a simple wooden door. Gadget pushed against the door swinging open to reveal a small classroom with several wooden desks all lined up in four rows a small fish tank resided on a desk closet to the window. A chalkboard took up the wall, just below the chalkboard occupied the teacher's desk.

A stern looking deep blue bird glared at them the look of disapproval made it clear that a pair of latecomers had dared to interrupt his lesson and there were smug looks on some of the other students' faces.

"Mr. Shun we're sorry that we're late." Gadget said. "We overslept but..."

"Oh yes, I forgot all about the new student in our midst." Their Teacher sneered eying Zerrin who avoided eye contact. The irate Teacher raised his wing pointing at the two desks right at the front of the classroom. The children looked up their gazes drifting from their work to the sight of the young wolf and jackal standing together looking uncertain.

"Your desks are right at the front of the classroom. I expect you to write a hundred lines of I will not be tardy to Mr. Shun's class ever again." The bird turned on his heel ignoring the looks of dismay that appeared on both Gadget and Zerrin's faces.

"If I find a single word misspelled or a grammatical error, then both of you will have to do it all over again am I clear?"

Both Gadget and Zerrin nodded sitting down in their assigned seats with Zerrin on Gadget's right side, looking down at the two pieces of paper along with a pencil. Zerrin picked up the pen seeing Gadget doing the same awkwardly with his left hand for the bird had merely smirked striding away from the two troublemakers satisfied turning his attention back to the other students determined to continue with his lesson before he was interrupted.

Zerinn inhaled calming himself. He risked a glance over at Gadget for the young wolf was struggling to write with his left hand a messy scrawl was forming on the paper. The wolf was trying to remain calm, but the nervous beads of sweat trailing down the wolf's forehead were more than enough to indicate that Gadget was scared.

Zerrin pushed his chair back hearing it screech against the wooden floor in protest. The noise alerted everyone else who looked up in interest as the bird whirled around seeing the young jackal getting out of his seat prompting Gadget to look up in fear.

"Zerrin sit back down." Gagdet hissed gauging his teacher's reaction, and most of the kids looked up having lost interest in their work observing the unfolding drama. "He doesn't tolerate disobedience."

"Mr. Shun, I need to switch seats with Gadget," Zerrin said keeping his voice level. "He needs help with the assignment."

In response Mr. Shun clenched the edge of the desk with his fingers a small scowl began to form on his beak. "I don't appreciate backtalking in my classroom." The bird hissed making sure to level his stare at Zerrin knowing that every time he'd glared at a disobedient student, they'd backed down.

"No I am the Teacher, and you are my students!"

"I just don't see what kind of sick satisfaction you get out of torturing someone who clearly can't even write."

There was a collective intake of breath in the classroom from the students. Gadget slowly exhaled. Slowly he pushed back his chair taking a stand shaking all over, but if Zerrin was going to be brave for his sake the least he could do was to take a position, to show that he wasn't afraid.

"I'm very sorry sir. I can't do the assignment." Gagdet inhaled trying to keep his voice steady. "If you punish Zerrin then you'll have to punish me too."

Mr. Shun recoiled in shock before the amused smile crept across his beak. Two students dared to stand up to him. Well, then he would have to teach them both a lesson.

"Very well. Zerinn you can write five hundred lines of I will not go against the teacher's decisions, and Gadget can clean out the fish tank."

There were bursts of some sniggers from the children for they were satisfied that they weren't going to be the targets of the irate Teacher's attention prompting a low sigh of disappointment from the pair of canines.

It was late in the afternoon around 4:30 PM for Zerrin had sat hunched over at his desk his messy scrawl having scribbled down his 495th line. Gadget had carefully placed the fish in small plastic bags. He was busy scrubbing out the fish tank making sure to keep his cast from getting covered in green sludge.

Luckily for Gadget, Mr. Shun had selected a white hedgehog to assist Gadget in cleaning out the fish tank. Gadget scraped off the last of the green gunk of the sides of the fish tank. The white hedgehog had made sure to fill it up with fresh water placing the plastic rocks in the bottom along with the synthetic reeds followed by the plastic bags containing the fish. Next, they snipped off the tops of the plastic bags with the scissors allowing the fish to swim from out of the plastic bags; the wolf removed the packets from the tank finishing his task by placing the tank lid on top sealing the fish in.

"Thank you, Lyra." Gadget said seeing the white hedgehog nod ever so briefly starting to make her way out of the classroom before she paused in her stride. "Besides I don't think it's fair that he tried to make you write with an injured arm." the hedgehog whispered hurrying out of the classroom.

Gagdet glanced around at the nearly vacant classroom as the only occupants left in the room were the teacher, Zerrin and him. Zerrin was already gathering up the pieces of paper with his lines written down shaking out his aching wrist. The two of them approached the Teacher's desk.

"Here's your lines As-" Gadget elbowed Zerrin hard in the side. " I mean Mr. Shun."

"The fishtank's been cleaned out as well Mr. Shun."

The bird looked up from his newspaper with an apathetic expression on his face regarding both canines before giving the briefest of nods.

"Very well then, both of you are dismissed."

It was such a relief for Gagdet and Infinite to step into the hallway for, at last, they were finally out of the classroom. Zerrin was unusually quiet lost in thought. Gadget was several steps ahead of him.

Gadget had to wonder if the jackal was displeased with him. He was a coward again; he should've confronted the teacher himself. It would've shown everyone he wasn't afraid to take a stand for himself in the hopes that he would be less of a target in the future.

"I'm not angry with you," Zerrin said pausing as though he'd red the young wolf's mind. "You're learning to stand up for yourself."

Gagdet almost stumbled over his feet in shock. He'd never imagined that Zerrin would say that out loud. The jackal was an enigma, the ghost of the smile was on the jackal's muzzle. Gadget hadn't realized he'd tensed up. Gadget began to shed a few tears the stress of what happened earlier had caught up to him.

"I really couldn't do the assignment." Gadget paused inhaling a soft sob left the young wolf's mouth. "I wasn't going to let you take the fall for what happened to me."

He let his head hang in shame. He didn't expect Zerinn place a hand on his back. The gesture was something so unlike the jackal to do. He felt the jackal's hand shift from his left shoulder to his back beginning to gently rub in small circular motions causing the young wolf to relax exhaling a low sigh feeling the oxygen leaving his lungs.

"Sometimes we just have to take a stand to face our fears." The jackal saw Gadget lifting a hand to wipe away the tears on his face. Zerrin took the chance patting him on the back.

The sound of the dinner bell echoed off in the hallway prompted a low rumble of hunger from Zerrin's stomach causing Gadget to chuckle a small blush appeared on the jackal's muzzle.

"Wait was that your stomach?" Gadget asked fighting to keep a small grin from spreading on his face. He felt the jackal gently remove his hand from his back. It didn't last long before Gadget heard his stomach growl in hunger, seeing the small smirk appear on Zerrin's face.

"I could ask you the same thing." Zerrin chuckled seeing the young red wolf blush rubbing the back of his head with his uninjured hand.

"Yeah well, let's head to Dinner. I promise it's not from the loser Orchard this time."

The two of them walked onwards making jokes about their teacher making their way towards the mess hall. The ice was broken between the pair of canines, Gagdet realized that Zerinn had become a little bit more relaxed around him.

Deep down the wolf felt a twinge of happiness. He'd never imagined the day that he would have a friend to joke with. The star had been listening to him this time.

Chad's gang entered their orchard looking around at the small grove of fruit trees that were planted in several neat rows by the Marton when she was a just a child. Someone had dared to come into their territory.

Whoever was the culprit they had dared to defy his gang stealing some of the fruit that was growing off the branches of the trees, small broken branches were on the ground along with discarded fruit scattered haphazardly onto the field.

The Orchard was supposed to be available for anyone to help themselves to have as a snack, but Chad's group had quickly distilled that notion claiming the Orchard for themselves.

Mara pressed her nose right up against the rough bark inhaling the faint scent of the nearest Apricot tree her face scrunched up in concentration until she broke away with a low growl. It was a growl that promised pain and suffering to whoever would be unfortunate enough to cross her path.

"These trees have Zerrin's scent all over them." Mara reported pacing back and forth a scowl forming on her muzzle." The nerve that he thinks he can do something like this."

Just like Zerinn Mara's stripes didn't come in when she was only ten years old, but she had failed the trial. As a result, Cassius had exiled her himself leaving the young jackal to arrive on the doorstep of the orphanage cold, hungry and alone.

Aster had been examining the ground closest to the fence until he found quite a large hole, just big enough for a thin ten-year-old jackal pup to squeeze under the fence on pure determination. If there was one thing that Zerrin had failed in it was that he'd failed to fill up the hole he'd dug in his haste to flee the scene of the crime.

"What do we do now boss?"

"I guess that we have to make an example of Zerrin then." Chad bent down towards the ground gripping a discarded Apricot standing back up to his full height wrapping his fingers around the fruit crushing it watching the sweet juice flowing from between his fingers.


	4. Chapter 4

If there was one thing that Chad hated the most it was being humiliated, the fact was that he along with Mara and Aster hadn't been humiliated once, but twice for two days in a row.

The first time was when Zerinn had shown up effortlessly beating them in a fight when they'd ganged up on Gadget. The second time was earlier today when the young jackal had stolen from their orchard.

No, this time Zerrin had crossed a line. Chad wanted payback. He would teach both of them a lesson that neither of them would forget in a hurry.

Chad pushed open the door that led into Gadget's room hearing the door hinges creak. Chad flinched surely the noise would wake up both Gadget and Zerrin.

However, that wasn't the case since both of them were still fast asleep with the jackal let out a low moan turning over in his sleep. Chad slowly entered their shared room aware of the floorboards creaking underneath his weight.

Chad stared at Gadget feeling a stab of envy in his chest for the young wolf. It made the maned wolf sick to his stomach that Gadget now had a friend, it was maddening that he wasn't alone anymore.

If it weren't for his strange quirks and his weird admiration of Sonic the Hedgehog with quite a few other defects Chad wasn't going to bother listing, then Gadget would've been adopted a long time ago. He slowly made his way over to the other bed the scent of oil coming from the spare bed where Gadget liked to build his "inventions" on hung in the air. How the smell didn't drive Zerrin crazy was beyond him.

Chad turned around seeing Aster entering the room silently moving over to where Zerrin was slumbering. Aster held the camera in his hands which he'd stolen off one of the orphanage staff when they were fast asleep. The coyote giggled lowly pressing a hand to Zerrin's head slowly lifting it up then carefully positioning the thumb underneath his head giving off the impression that he was sucking his thumb.

Aster slowly raised the camera pressing on the shutter button the sound of the low click filled the room. Chad whipped around bearing his teeth in a snarl.

"Idiot! Don't take the picture in here!" Chad hissed his ears flat against his skull. "You'll wake them up."

"Sorry boss."

Chad rolled his eyes ignoring Aster's half-hearted attempt at an apology. He slowly removed the small piece of paper that he'd brought with him and he placed it on Gadget's chest. He paused to remove the small water bottle tucked in the crook of his arm.

His fingers fiddled with the cap of the top of the bottle pulling it off in one deft movement he pulled back the blanket with his other hand pouring the bottle of water over the bedsheets near the end of the bed to give off the impression that Gadget had wet the bed in the middle of the night.

Chad fiddled with his own stolen camera taking the picture seeing the young wolf moan his eyelids twitching at the sound of the click the camera made. Thankfully Gadget didn't wake he just turned his head slightly away from the disturbance.

Chad nodded to Aster signaling him that it was time to leave silently closing the door behind them. Phase one of their plan was complete. Mara had agreed to retrieve the thing that they would need for phase two of their plan.

"So how long is this going to take?" Aster whined his blue eyes wide with impatience. Chad's deep emerald green eyes looked around at the darkening hallway, making his way into the photocopier room.

"Just be patient, Mara will be back by morning with it," Chad made his way towards the computers pulling back the chair wheeling it away from the computer screens slowly opening the lid placing the picture onto it closing the lid and he pressed several buttons.

The machine whirred to life as several copies of the first photo ended up on the paper tray. Chad handed the first photo to Aster.

"Go and hang this up on the community noticeboard."

Aster nodded gathering up the bundle of papers a low chuckle forming in his throat. "You want me to pin up these photos all over the orphanage?"

"Of course your idiot!" Chad snapped impatiently as the second stack of copies came pouring out of the machine. Chad gathered them up in his black-gloved hands. he gazed up at the clock on the wall which read 11:30 PM.

Both of the bullies worked late into the night walking around the orphanage planting the pictures up on all of the orphanage's walls. Chad knew that Aster was loyal to him along with Mara. They were the undisputed kings and queen of the orphanage ruling with fear and terror especially Gadget who was their favorite victim.

A lack of sleep would be worth tonight's activities would be worth it. For when both Gadget and Zerinn awoke tomorrow they would be thoroughly humiliated.

The next morning there was a hustle and bustle around in the main hall where most of the orphanage kids were gathered around the notice board. The notice board was usually a place where announcements were made such as who had won student of the month in Mr. Shun's class or who was most likely to get adopted.

However, there were more kids then usual clustered around the notice board. They were laughing, jostling each other to get even closer to the notice board something that caught Gadget's attention. It was odd since not many kids were clustered around the board at this time of day.

"I wonder what's going on?" Gadget asked seeing Zerinn look in the same direction his ears were pricked in interest.

"Maybe they finally fired that idiot teacher," Zerinn replied. "I mean he sucked at his job so why not?"

That was a possibility, Gadget noted making his way to the notice board Zerrin not too far behind him feeling the pairs of eyes that were on them. There were small giggles coming from the crowd for some weird reason.

Gadget and Zerinn made their way to the front of the small crowd. What they saw made them freeze in shock. There was a picture of Zerrin fast asleep with what appeared to be with his thumb in his mouth, and there was another photo, this one was of Gadget was also asleep with a small notice on his chest that proclaimed I'm seven years old and I still wet the bed!

"Awww I had no idea that Zerinn still sucked his thumb!"

"No, I don't!" Zerinn heard the comment spinning around to face the speakers a low scowl was forming on his muzzle.

"Gadget I had no idea that you wet the bed!"

"Wh-what?!" Gadget's face was burning with embarrassment hearing a few chuckles coming from the crowd all around them. "No, I don't!" Gadget protested which sent the kids wild. Zerinn quickly placed an arm around Gadget's left shoulder steering him away from the crowd of kids that were making kissy faces at them for he figured it was best that they make a quick exit.

The rumor that Gadget was a bed wetter and that Zerrin was a thumb sucker quickly exploded around the orphanage. No matter where Gadget and Zerrin went the same two pictures of Gadget supposedly wetting the bed and Zerrin sucking his thumb were everywhere.

Zerrin's response had been to tear down the pictures tearing them to little sherds with a low growl in his throat. There was no doubt in the jackal's mind of who was responsible for this prank.

"Zerinn you don't think that Chad and his gang did this?" Gadget asked quietly. "I'm used to this. I'd never thought that they'd stoop this low."

"Of course they did this Gadget!" Zerinn spoke quickly ripping another picture down from the wall tearing it to shreds with his claws. "This is the kind of thing they'd do just for the heck of it."

Neither of them was in good spirits by the time they wandered into the playground well after lunchtime, there were so many eyes focused on them. Gadget kept his head down not warning to make eye contact with the kids.

"Awww there 's the thumb sucker and the bed wetter!" Chad jeered. "Freaks like them will never be accepted in this world!"

This set off a giant round of laughter from the crowd. Most of the kids alternated between miming thumb sucking and pretending to wet the bed at the young wolf and jackal. Some of the kids called out to Zerrin asking him how many times a day Zerrin sucked his thumb.

Gadget hurried on ahead with Zerinn right behind him the young jackal whipped his head around fixing the three bullies with an icy stare, they flat out ignored it making their way across the playground doing their best to ignore the jeers that came their way.

The wolf and jackal fought to keep a dignified walk with Zerinn glared at a few kids who were following them as they broke away not wanting to engage in an actual fight with the young scrappy jackal.

The duo of friends made their way to the back of the building where not a lot of kids even came this way. The only sounds that could be heard were the sounds of Flickies chirping, it was a nice sound and the duo of unlikely friends sat on a wooden bench overlooking the small pond. It was nice and peaceful. They needed to get away from the rest of the orphans for the rest of the day to avoid the teasing.

"Are you alright Gadget?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Gadget responded sadly; one ear was folded back against his skull in sadness. "You don't think that I'm a freak do you?"

"You're not a freak." Zerinn's voice snapped Gadget out of his thoughts. "Chad and his gang are the freaks."

The two of them just sat together in silence listening to the Flickies in the distance the sound of the leaves rustling in the gentle breeze Gadget perked up a bit for the crisp fall air was soothingly distracting him from the teasing earlier.

"So what do you plan to do in life when you get older?"

The wolf's ears pricked in surprise, he tilted his head trying to think of a response to the question.

"Well, I do want to be an inventor when I get older." Gadget replied earnestly having his tail wag ever so slightly in excitement. Zerinn just kept on continuing to surprise him.

Heh, that sounds about right for you," Zerinn said. "You do love to tinker with gadgets."

"So what about you then?" Gadget asked for a moment he thought he heard a trio of footsteps treading the ground slowly walking over to where they were.

"I'm going to become the leader of the Jackal Squad," Zerinn replied. "Then one day I'm going to be the Ultimate Mercenary, it's been my dream."

Gadget's ears twitched. "What does the Jackal Squad do exactly?"

"I'll tell you when you're a little bit old-," Zerinn replied hearing the sound of a twig snapping catching his attention. "We've got company."

"There's the bed wetter and the thumb sucker." Chad's jeer cut through the air as the maned wolf along with Mara and Aster came around the corner of the building towards them a low growl forming in the back of his throat. There was a look of pure anger in his eyes, and his fists clenched. Zerinn slid off the bench he was sitting on recognizing the threat posture Chad was making gesturing to Gadget to stay put.

"Can we help you?" Zerinn fought to keep his tone even. "That's a pathetic stunt you came up with just to make yourselves look good."

"It wasn't funny Chad." Gadget chimed in making sure to stand up. The tension in the area was that even the Flickies had stopped chirping, it was almost like the small birds sensed the anger building up in the area.

"Yeah, you're the thief that robbed our orchard!" Chad snarled taking another step forward.

"Heh, you look a little too well fed to scale the trees for that delicious fruit."

Gadget had to bite down on his tongue to stifle his laughter. It was correct Chad was a little plump around his waist, the same could be said for Aster, but Mara she was the only skinny one out of his gang.

"I'll teach you to laugh you little punk!" Chad snarled making a beeline for Gadget. Zerinn immediately stood up placing himself between Gadget.

The look of fear was on the young wolf's face was all too clear seeing his enemy come racing towards him. Zerinn ran at Chad his fist raised ready preparing to punch Chad in the face when he was within striking distance of the maned wolf.

Before Zerinn could even land a punch on him. Chad was quicker punching Zerrin hard in the stomach knocking the wind out of the young jackal before he was roughly tossed to the ground.

Zerinn rolled onto his side gasping for air feeling a heavy weight being pressed into the small of his back. The jackal was pinned feeling Chad roughly stomp on his back repeatedly his face fixed in a sinister grin ignoring the jackal yelping in pain

"Stay down you pathetic weak dog! I'll teach you to steal from my orchard!" The blow of kicks continued onwards until Gadget suddenly up his good fist stood to make a dash for Chad kicking him in hard in his right shin, which got the maned wolf's attention and he spun on his heel a low growl forming in his throat

"How dare you."

The next thing that Gadget felt was Chad's elbow slamming into the bridge of his nose hearing something crack, for he was rewarded with a gush of blood coming out of his nose resulting in a sharp pain emitting from his nose. He felt Aster's sharp claws digging into his shoulder, then Mara walked past them, both carrying something in a handbag with a smirk on her muzzle.

"Here you go, boss." Mara was passing the satchel while Zerrinn fought to get up, but Chad kept his foot pressed down into the small of his back pinning the young jackal to the ground. He dug the heel of his boot into Zerinn's back hearing the aggressive growl emitting from the jackal's throat. No one picked on Gadget. He summoned his strength desperately to wriggle out from underneath Chad's foot to no avail.

Chad's response was to push down harder keeping the jackal pinned to the ground, the soil pressed right up against the jackal's face. If he'd known just how bad his beating was going to be, Zerinn would've never have stolen from their orchard in the first place. His body ached all over; he was so weak. Oh, how he hated feeling weak, it made him want to scream in pure anger.

Mara watched the scene impassively folding her arms across her chest. She remembered exactly how her stripes had failed to come. How Mara begged and pleaded with her parents not to send her to the trial, but her pleas had fallen on deaf ears. She'd tried her best to cross the desert in a single night, only to take to long and when the first rays of the morning sun passed over the horizon she'd just barely reached the border of Green Hill only to find that Cassius was already standing informing her that she'd failed her trial and was no longer a member of Saharais.

"Your dad may be the leader of the Jackal Squad, but he's not here to save you now," Mara sneered coming forward kneeling right down onto one knee to whisper the words into Zerinns' ear leaning forward she nipped him on the ear earning a yelp of pain. "This won't hurt a bit."

Chad grinned slowly removing the object that was hidden away in the handbag. Zerinn felt his heart freeze. It was his father's red shortsword. It had gone missing after his father had realized that the female jackal pup he'd sent on the trial had taken it, enraging his father. Right before he'd exiled the jackal pup, he'd questioned her endlessly only for her to smirk back at him cheerfully informing him that he was never going to see his sword ever again.

"Do me a favor; I want to hear you scream."

The tip of the sword was placed against the skin, and in one swift movement, Mara dragged the tip of the blade down the right side of Zerinns' face slicing through fur and skin, a steady flow of blood leaked from the newly formed wound on Zerrin's face. Zerrin screamed.

Gadget felt Aster release his hold for he raced forward to aid Zerrin from the corner of his eye he saw Chad roughly grab him by the shoulder. He was dimly aware of Chad's cronies running away shouting that both Zerrin and Gadget had tried to attack them both.

"Now then we're even for Zerinn's little theft." The smile that spread across Chad's face was sinister. "So much for the Ultimate Mercenary."

Gadget blocked out Chad's cruel laughter ringing in his ears seeing the blood staining Zerinns's white glove turning it crimson. Zerrin was thrashing around in his half blinded state; blood continued to bleed out from Zerrin's wound, trailing down his body in small crimson trickles.

Gadget took a step forward attempting to grab Zerrin with his uninjred hand only to be met with a pair of claws sinking into his left shoulder.

The wolf attempted to grab Zerinn by the left shoulder only for the half-blinded jackal to foil his every attempt sinking his claws into his skin cutting into his flesh in his desperate attempts to get away. "I'm ... not...weak. I'm...not weak."

"You're not weak!" Gadget protested struggling to hold onto the writhing jackal feeling his the jackal's claws slicing into his skin and flesh leaving bloody ribbons that were hard to see against the wolf's red fur.

Time was running out for Zerinn for if the bleeding weren't stopped soon, the jackal would undoubtedly go into shock. Gadget made one last desperate attempt at ignoring the stinging wounds he willed his fingers to grab tightly Zerrin's shoulder.

"Zerinn stop! It's me! He called out as he saw the light of recognition in Zerinn's left eye. The jackal's knees buckled his bruised body sinking to the ground taking Gadget with him.

They remained on their knees for several minutes, the jackal panting his sides rising and falling in rapid breaths. Gadget murmured soothing things to Zerinn wishing that he had some gauze on him. An idea came to his mind, removing his white glove he pressed it right up against the wound trying to ignore the pained gasps coming from the jackal. He was trying very hard not to have a panic attack himself.

"I'm sorry, I- I didn't mean to." Zerinn gasped out. The jackal was openly sobbing now from the pain of the attack. Gadget shook his head keeping his excellent hand focused on the soiled glove. He shuddered. He could feel Zerinn's skin becoming clammy underneath his touch. He continued to apply pressure on the glove trying so hard to stop the bleeding.

"It's okay." Gadget whispered ignoring the pain of the stinging cuts all over his body. "I accept your apology, please just hang in there." He said feeling the sting of tears threatening to slide down his face.

The sound of an ambulance siren was heard coming from the parking lot with the Matron appearing around the corner with a red bear nurse running across the ground the Matron took one look at the sight of Gadget sitting upright bleeding from multiple cuts holding a crying Zerrin.

"Matron it's not what it looks like."

Gadget looked over at the crimson sword lying in the dirt which Mara had forgotten to grab in her chance to escape. Zerinn looked up at the sound of Gadget's voice and the Matron covered her mouth with her hand in horror when she saw the long bleeding gash running down the side of Zerinn's face, there was a patch of fur missing from where Mara had slashed the sword across his face.

Zerinn suddenly began to tremble all over. There was a sheen of sweat on his fur, he was panting rapidly the left pupil in his eye was becoming dilated.

"This is bad he's going into shock," The nurse said. "We need to get him to the Children's hospital right away!"

The nurse quickly walked over to Gadet who released his hold on Zerinn. The bear bent down picking up Zerinn with a grunt lifting the jackal onto the stretcher. The blood-soaked glove was swiftly removed and it was replaced with a fresh wet towel the second nursed pressed it against Zerinn's face with the jackal letting out a moan of pain.

Gadget watched with tears in his eyes as Zerinn was loaded into the back of the ambulance which immediately sped away sirens blaring into the distance. He felt a sense of despair creeping up his spine.

The Matron looked over at Gadget an impassive frown on her refined face. "We need to have a talk Gadget.


	5. Chapter 5

Gadget waited anxiously pacing back and forth in the orphanage infirmary. Gadget felt so useless. Three hours had passed ever since Zerinn had attacked, he didn't want to think about it. His hands were shaking just from the thought that Zerrin could potentially be dead. The faint memory of struggling against Aster's grip unable to break free, being forced to watch in horror as Mara had sliced the blade down the side of Zerinn's face the screams that followed would haunt him for the rest of his days.

His highly sensitive hearing picked up the sound of the Matron's footsteps pacing in the hallway with her ear pressed against the phone conferring with one of the nurses from the Park Avenue children's hospital on the other end of the phone.

Gadget's wounds had been cleaned and bandaged. Neither his nose or his wrist had been broken, much to the nurse's relief. He looked up at the clock on the wall which said 7:00 PM. The pain was lessening, but his heart still ached at the thought even though he saved Zerinn's life the jackal had again been injured.

"Yes thank you. I'll be sure to let Gadget know."

Gadget straightened sitting up as the door creaked open the Matron stepping across the threshold into the room. For the first time, the cat looked exhausted her jade eyes fixed on Gadget. Gadget stood up from the chair immediately a hopeful look was in his eyes.

"Is Zerrin?"

"According to the Nurse, Zerrin is very lucky to be still alive." The Matron replied. "He lost a lot of blood, and he needed a blood transfusion. He'll have that scar on his face for the rest of his life, but she thinks that they can still save the sight in his right eye with an operation."

Gadget could feel himself collapsing in relief back into the chair.

The Matron took an opposite seat Gadget folding her arms into her lap the expression on her face was grim. The tension was thick in the air. Gadget heard the Matron let out a low sigh of sadness. She'd known Gadget ever since he was a baby and seeing him bandaged up like this it pained her so much. Her mind wandered over to Zerrin. He was temperamental, yes, but he'd been the friend that Gadget needed, she had never seen Gadget looking so happy when he was with Zerinn.

Gadget saw the troubled look on the Matrons' face her eyes traveled to the wall where the crimson shortsword hung on a pair of hooks. She had no idea who could've smuggled a weapon in since they were expressively forbidden at the orphanage.

"Gadget." Gadget immediately snapped to attention fixing his gaze onto his mother figure the cat's stare was disapproving.

"I've gotten the story from Chad, under normal circumstances I would take anything those hooligans say with a grain of salt," The Matron said and added, "Is it true that Zerrin stole fruit from their orchard?"

"Yes, Matron it is."

Gadget saw the stern expression appear on the Matron's face whenever someone had been brought to her office whenever they were in trouble. Gadget saw the brief look of disappointment in her eyes.

"Gadget I've told you that stealing is wrong," The Matron replied seeing the crestfallen expression on the wolf's face who sullenly nodded. "I'm also a little disappointed in you that while you didn't steal the fruit, you did partake in eating it with Zerinn."

The stab of guilt coursed through Gadget's being. He hated to admit it, but the Matron was right. He should've known that Chad would take revenge for the theft of the fruit.

"The hospital's agreed that we can visit Zerinn this coming Saturday." The Matron said. " Until then just try to stay out of trouble."

"I will." Gadget said pushing his chair back as the Matron did the same thing coming over to place a gentle one armed embrace around the young wolf. Even though she wasn't supposed to have favorites she mentally listed Gadget as one of her favorite children. He was so eager to please, and he was just like the son she'd never had.

Gadget left the Matron's office his stride was even. Gadget paused at the foot of the stairs looking up at them, trembling in fear recalling the time that he'd been shoved down them feeling the pain surging up his body.

 _"I think that our "Inventor" needs to learn how the stairs work!"_ The red wolf recollected the fear, terror, and pain he'd when he'd been pushed down the stairs landing on his stomach on the floor. The wolf inhaled profoundly mentally counting to ten calming himself down making his way up the stairs each step filled with purpose.

 _It's not just me Chad, and his friends have bullying it's the other kids here as well._ Gadget thought to himself reaching the top of the stairs. On the wall leading to his room, there were still a few pictures of him supposedly wetting the bed for he reached up with his uninjured hand tearing down the last few photos tightly hearing the paper crinkling in the palm of his hand.

"I need help in taking Chad down," Gadget said limping ever so slightly to his room. "But everyone else is too scared to take a stand."

Gadget returned to his room noticing for the first time that the door to his room was slightly open. It felt so empty without Zerinn in the room; he looked over to the pile of blankets and the single pillow in the middle of the room, the discarded Apricot stone and Orange peels that'd been placed in the waste paper bin. At the moment Gadget had never felt so alone.

A gleam of metal caught his eye as he made his way to his work bed noticing an object he thought he would never see again. On the bed's oil-stained sheets was his newly repaired grappling hook prototype prompting the wolf to gape in surprise. It was broken he'd thought it would've been thrown out, but no someone had found it and taken the time to repair it.

"It was us."

Gadget pivoted on his heel turning around to notice a green bird and a pink cat who looked around unsure expressions on their faces for they were in the same room as Gadget. He'd never thought that anyone apart from Zerinn would even dare to come in here unless it was to steal something that he was working on.

"We found it shortly after those jerks pushed you down the stairs." The pink cat said gesturing with her paw over to where the green bird had a smug expression on his face. "I'm just glad that they didn't kill you."

"It wasn't too badly damaged, so it was easily fixable," the green bird said holding out his wing to shake. "I'm Corvin by the way, and this is Fuchsia." the bird said gesturing to the pink cat.

Gadget shook the bird's proffered wing followed by the pink cat's paw. "We've heard about what Chad did to you and Zerinn," Fuchsia added in a small frown formed on her face. "I'm Mara's roommate."

Gadget stood stock still processing the new information which Fuchisa had just provided. Now that he thought about it he'd seen the two of them walking about the orphanage sometimes. Gadget didn't know much about both of them except they'd both lost their parents a month ago in a train crash.

"Thank you," Gadget picked up the prototype feeling it's weight resting in the palm of his hand. "Why would you help me?"

"We don't think that you're a freak," Corvin said. "Besides have a look at the real thumbsucker." The bird waved a small photo which Gadget took between two of his fingers. The image showed Aster fast asleep on his side with his thumb in his mouth.

The young wolf chuckled at the image. "And Aster called Zerinn a thumbsucker." The young wolf said with a smirk.

"We just want to make sure that no one else gets hurt by them again," Fuchsia said with a slight shudder. "I also know that Mara believes that she doesn't need those two idiots and she could rule the whole orphanage by herself."

Gadget made sure to process the information about Mara. Yes, the jackal had always been arrogant, believing that she didn't need her two fellow bullies to rule the orphanage with fear and terror. The sinister grin she'd had on her face when she'd attacked Zerinn was more than enough proof that she would turn on Chad in a heartbeat.

At that moment Gadget made his decision. "I'm in," he replied holding out his good hand feeling both Corvin and Fuchsia place their hands on top of his own. "I don't want to see anyone else get hurt."

The three unlikely allies put their heads together to come up with a plan. Gadget noticed that all three of them had a common goal. They came to the agreement that they wouldn't put their plan into action yet.

A few days later, the Matron had taken Gadget to the Park Avenue Children's hospital the drive there was mostly silent, and when they'd arrived at the hospital. The kindly receptionist had waved them both through the reception area as a rabbit nurse named Simone had shown up to escort both the Matron and Gadget up to the second floor of the hospital.

"Zerinn's been slowly on the mend. The operation was a success." Simone had informed the Matron and Gadget who walked together through the pristine white hallway leading to Zerinn's room. "Zerinn's a bit underweight though so we've been helping him put some weight on."

Gadget had tuned their voices out for he heard the sound of patients happily chatting with their visitors could be heard from a couple of rooms down the hallway. His mind was on what Zerinn would look like after the operation. They came to a door as Simone slowly pushed it open seeing Gadget hesitate ever so slightly.

"It's okay he's been waiting to see you," Simone said gently. "He missed you."

Gadget stepped into the room where he saw Zerinn lying propped up against a couple of right side of his face had been bandaged. An IV tube had been inserted into his left wrist, for Zerrin's left eye was open. He saw the faint, weak smile on his friend's face and his tail wagged from, side to side in slow motion.

Gadget slowly walked over to where the chair had been positioned next to the bed. Gadget slowly sat down in it facing Zerinn for the first time since the attack. There was something different about the young jackal. He appeared to be subdued his big ears that were usually up were bent backward for he could see the tear streaks which suggested that the jackal had been crying.

"Zerinn? How are you feeling?"

"I could be doing better," Zerinn mumbled weakly. "You saved my life."

"You're my friend." Gadget replied honestly. "I wasn't going to let you die."

The jackal slowly pushed himself up letting out a low sigh settling back into the pillow digging his claws into the bed sheets. He'd already tried a couple of times yanking the IV out of his arm and making a dash for it only to be caught and forcibly dragged back to his bed. Zerinn received quite a scolding from the nurses saying that he was going to have to stay longer in the hospital if he didn't rest like he was supposed to.

"Chad he said that I was weak," Zerinn said dully. "He's wrong I am not weak."

"Ignore him!" Gadget raised his voice slightly. "He's the weak one, not you."

"It's what my father's said to me ever since I was a pup" Zerrin mumbled looking over at Gadget. "I am not weak."

"You were strong enough to defend me when we first met." Gadget said sadly.

The jackal was considering what to say next. He didn't know how to reply to Gadget's statement. The world had been so cruel to the young wolf and yet he still was able to carry on to never letting that optimistic speak die out.

It was almost maddening to the jackal to be stuck here in the bed while those bullies continued to hurt people. Gadget leaned forward placing a gentle hand on his friends' back moving his hand in a circular motion. Zerrin tensed feeling the gentle motion soothe him. It was the same thing that he'd done to comfort Gadget when he'd broken down in tears from when Mr. Shun had scolded him.

"I know that you stole from Chad's orchard," The Matron said her tone firm was causing the jackal's tail twitch ever so slightly. "I know that stealing is a way of life in Saharis, but it's not acceptable here in Park Avenue do you understand Zerrin?"

"It's either be strong or be weak or perish," Zerrin replied feeling Gadget to remove his hand briefly."That's the way this world works."

Gadget paused taking a moment to rub his eyes to make sure that he didn't imagine things. There were several small black hairs stuck to the palm of his left hand and on the jackals' back, there was a large white patch with six small white lines that resembled a rib cage stretching over the sides of the jackal's abdomen.

"Zerinn! Your stripes!" Gadget observed.

"Yeah, I know," Zerinn replied. "It's funny that after I get a big scar on my face that my stripes start to come in." He finished his sentence with a chuckle.

The small smile remained on Zerinn's face noticing that the Matron had left the room to give the two of them some privacy. The wolf was silent as though he had something on his mind a small smile forming on his face his tail was starting to wag slightly.

"I along with a couple of kids are coming up with a plan to deal with Chad's gang." Gadget said a small smile was on his face for he filled Zerinn in what was going on, the jackal made sure to keep a neutral expression on his face. He couldn't hide his glee with the slight wag of his tail.

"Get them good for me," Zerinn whispered leaning in towards Gadget making sure that they couldn't be overheard. " Here's something I did once when Kaito was being picked on a few years ago the only way I got the bullying to stop was by turning his bullies on each other."

The idea slowly began to take root in Gadget's mind for the Matron, and Simone returned to inform them both that visiting hours were over. Gadget spent the rest of the ride back to the orphanage lost in thought.

Both Corvin and Fuchsia had been a help. They'd helped repair his grappling hook prototype even though they'd snuck into his room. They wanted to take Chad's gang down as well. While everyone else had spent most of the morning getting ready for lessons, the trio of friends had been busy making copies of the photo of Aster sucking his thumb.

The next step had been plastering the pictures on the notice board and in a few spots where kids were most likely to see them.

Fuchsia had been spreading a rumor about Mara making sure to choose only the most trustworthy of kids who were more than happy to share a story that potentially could land one of their tormentors in hot water with the other two members of their group.

The mood in the mess hall that evening when Gadget had returned was just as noisy as it always was at this time of day. There were fewer kids in the mess hall Gadget noticed, focusing on getting his dinner making his way over to a small table that had a few other kids sitting at it few giggles coming from most of the kids in the mess hall.

From the corner of his eye, he spied Chad's gang sitting at their usual table, the maned wolf spotting him instantly the cruel grin spread across his face. On the other hand, Aster looked a bit sullen glaring down at his bowl of food aware of a few giggles aimed in his direction. A low growl soon silenced the few brave kids who'd dared to laugh at him hearing the faint whispers of thumb sucker.

"Hey everyone! Don't sit on the bed wetter's table!" Chad called out to the rest of the mess hall. "He'll break into your rooms just to wet your beds too!"

"Yeah, he can't do a thing without the thumb sucker!" Aster added in. The burst of loud laughter echoed through the mess hall. Gadget simply tuned the laughter out looking over at Fuchisa who gave a silent nod to Corvin seeing Gadget flash him a thumbs up.

All eyes were on the green bird who pushed back his chair the legs scraping against the tiled floor which stood up along with Fuchsia. Both of them had such a determined expression on their faces for they nodded to each other.

"Is that the truth? Cause I hear that one of your gang still wets the bed!"

"Yeah, and the other one still sucks their thumb at night when they think no one else is looking!"

There were some giggles that followed after the announcements. An irate Chad turned his glare onto the kids silencing them, Mara's tail twitched in irritation, Aster's lips began to pull back in a snarl.

Now was the moment of truth. Gadget breathed in pushing back his chair turning his gaze to fix on Chad's group. "Mara thinks that she can rule this whole orphanage on her own," Gadget taunted seeing Mara flush a deep crimson. "She thinks that Chad and Aster are holding her back."

At his sentence, there was an uproar from Chad's table for all three members of Chad's gang pushed back their chairs with a loud scrape on the tiled floor and they were glaring fiercely at each other.

"Don't need us hah!" Chad snorted. "You were just a stripless freak that came crawling onto the orphanage's doorstep!"Chad was baring his teeth in a desperate snarl.

"Oh please, Aster doesn't even have the intelligence to take over this place!" Mara said fiercely.

"I do have the intelligence to take over this place!" Aster replied in a snarl his tail swishing fiercely. Chad, Mara, and Aster shot one last glare at each other than all three of them stormed off in different directions from their table the sound of three separate doors opening and then slamming signaled the bullies' exit from the mess hall.

The rest of the children sat in dumbfounded silence. The group that had tormented them for what had felt like forever had just split apart. The silence was broken with most of the children muttering in hushed tones at the bizarre turn of events.

Crovin leaned back with a satisfied smirk on his beak. Fuchsia made sure to give Gadget a high five with his uninjured hand.

"It's not over yet." Gadget reminded both of his new friends as they nodded. "When everyone's asleep we proceed to the next step of the plan."


	6. Chapter 6

Storms were a rare occurrence in Saharais the low grey rumbles of the thunder in the distance. In the busy streets, people jumped out of the way to avoid getting run over by the of vendors in the packed streets hastily packing up their wares to prevent them from becoming damaged by the rain thus ruining them.

Inside the jackal family's home, Cassius paced back and forth against the white carpets his tail twitching in irritation. He greatly resembled his son Zerrin with his short white dreadlocks and the ribcage pattern that Zerrin had inherited. Multiple scars ran all over his body, and his attire consisted of black gloves and boots rimmed with gold strips.

"How long does it take for a single spy to report back?!"

Cassius snarled turning his gaze towards a pair of jackals. Kaito sat up with his tail curled around him for comfort his eyes were on the floor avoiding eye contact with his irate father. He wished that Zerrin was here. It had been a whole week since he'd been sent out on his was like Zerrin had vanished, it did happen to young jackal pups that were sent out into the desert, and they were never heard from ever again. Zerrin had to be dead. He felt the knot of sadness forming in his stomach.

The only member of his family that cared about him was most likely dead, and it hurt he dug his claws into the settee cover wishing that by some miracle Zerrin would return home safe and sound telling Kaito all about his trek.

 _I don't want to do the trial._ Kaito looked down at his bare arms wishing that his stripes would come in soon. It didn't help that Dune his oldest sibling had been claiming that there were monsters in the desert that snapped up young jackal pups if they strayed too far from Saharais.

Sera sat next to him. She was beautiful; she wore a dull dark brown sleeveless vest with long green trousers, a pair of gold bangles adorned her wrists and ankles. Her footwear consisted of a couple of red boots, a long messy strand of white hair adorned the top of her head.

She heard the low sniffle coming to her left. She let out a sigh gritting her teeth reaching down whacking Kaito hard across the back of his head. She heard Kaito yelp lifting a hand to rub at the spot where he'd been struck tears in his eyes.

"Oh, for Chaos' sake stop sniveling Kaito!" Sera snarled turning a fierce gaze see an equally irritated look flash onto Cassius' face. Dune and Sahara the other two jackal pups peering into the room from the hallway smirks on their faces seeing their youngest sibling suffering.

"I've slapped Zerrin when he was your age a—"

A hurried knocking on the wooden door cut off the rest of Cassius' sentence. With an irradiated huff, the older jackal quit his pacing making his way over to the door opening it with such force he saw the exhausted jackal bore a single silver armband on his upper left arm.

The spy's jobs in Saharais was simple. They would follow the jackal pups tracks making sure to keep out of sight of the young jackal and to report back to the parents of the jackal if their child had completed the trail or if they'd perished during the attempt.

"Finally, it's about time!" The jackal was dragged into the room as Cassias removed a small blade from the holster at his belt pressing it right up against the terrified jackal's throat. "Speak does my weak son live or has he perished in the desert?"

"H-he lives sir." The jackal gasped out feeling the cold steel of the blade being pressed ever so slightly against his throat. He could already guess from the displeased expression on Cassius' face and the slight curl of his upper lip that it was news that he hadn't wanted to hear.

"Fine, then I suppose that we'll have to go and get him them."

Cassius ignored the look of glee that appeared on Kaito's face. He should've killed Zerrin when he was still a baby, or at the very least would've kept both Kaito and Zerrin separated from each other something that he would keep in mind in the future.

Sera let out a low sigh getting to her feet as Kaito slid off the couch the wide smile never left his face his tail was wagging like crazy.

"We'll have to go and retrieve the little freak right?" Sera asked letting out a low sigh. She loved Cassius she did, but the matter of looking after another female jackal's pups was a grave insult. She bit down on her tongue looking over at Cassius who was whispering something to the other terrified jackal who nodded running away.

"Well, that freak did cross the desert in such a quick time," Cassius looking as though he'd swallowed a foul piece of steak. "We have to retrieve him, and I think that he can handle what I have in mind for him after all."

The mood at the orphanage was different. Gadget noted. The wolf slowly sat up in bed slowly rubbing his eyes chasing the last traces of the morning sleep away stifling a yawn as he did so. He looked over at the newly repaired Grappling hook. His mind wandering back to yesterday where he'd taken a risk in standing up to Chad's gang spilling their secrets along with Fuchsia and Corvin.

He pushed back the blankets slowly stretching out his aching back.

The first thing he heard outside of his door was a series of stomps which was quickly followed by yelling. Gadget opened the door soon stepping into the hallway, and he almost couldn't believe what he was witnessing.

Chad and Aster stood in the middle of the hallway glaring at each other their fists clenched; their tails were twitching, the fur was bristling along the napes of their necks their eyes narrowed. There were a couple of kids witnessing the bizarre sight in front of them.

"How dare you! You leaked the picture that I wet the bed when I was ten years old!" Chad snarled taking a step forward towards Aster.

"Well excuse me, boss!" Aster snapped back his ears were pinned back against his head. "It's payback because you said that I was too dumb to rule this whole orphanage by myself!"

Gadget wisely chose not to say a thing. The rest of the orphanage kids were looking on in disbelief. Two of their tormentors were fighting right here in the hallway. He spied some of the kids rubbing their eyes in disbelief wondering if Santa had come early.

The tension between Chad and Aster had reached a peak, for without warning Chad lunged at Aster forcing the coyote to sidestep lashing out with a kick landing a successful blow in the middle of the maned wolf's back sending crashing on his stomach knocking the wind out of him. Before Chad could even respond Aster darted forward landing a couple of kicks onto Chad's side.

"I'm jumping ship dumbass." The coyote hissed waking past Chad stomping on Chad's hand in the process. "Have fun hanging around Mara. I've just found out how you and Mara are always making fun of me behind my back. You two are just perfect for each other." Aster shoved past a couple of kids heading down the stairs to the lower level as the last sound they'd heard of the coyote was a door slamming shut marking Aster's exit from the orphanage forever.

Chad staggered to his feet gasping holding his aching hand looking dumbfounded. Aster, his second in command had turned on him in the blink of an eye. Gadget decided it would be wise to make himself scarce before Chad saw him and take his bad mood out on him as well.

 _One down just two to go._ Gadget thought to himself happily. With Aster's departure, the balance of power in the orphanage would shift for sure. The kids began to whisper seeing Chad slowly and painfully get to his feet staring in disbelief at what had just occurred. Aster had suddenly turned on him for no reason whatsoever well there were times when he'd called the coyote dumb behind his back.

News of Aster's sudden departure spread like wildfire throughout the orphanage for it was like the usual atmosphere of fear disappeared in an instant. He'd seen both Chad and Mara sulking around the orphanage not looking at each other. There was a tension between them as Corvin looked over with a small smirk gracing his beak.

"Heh and good riddance that he's gone." Corvin nodded in the direction seeing happy kids. Fuchsia was sitting with them kicking her heels against the rough wall as a small smile on her face. "I've heard a rumor that he fled because of the police."

Gadget looked up seeing the Matron walking across the grounds with a couple of policemen for both of them were dogs with severe expressions on their faces. The Matron looked puzzled and just a little bit frustrated. She scanned the area looking for Aster before she was forced to shake her head speaking to the two policemen in low tones. They were too far away for Gadget what they were saying, but he saw the looks of disappointment on their faces.

"Oh, so I did guess that Matron is doing something about it." Gadget said. Fuchsia let out a low sigh placing a hand on Gadget's shoulder. "She does her best for everyone and like I've said someone has to stand up to Chad's Gang."

The wolf saw Mara walking by a look of fear appeared on her face when she saw the policemen in the distance. She looked over at Gadget as a small scowl appeared on her lips curled upwards to expose her sharp teeth. She walked over as Gadget slid off the wall to make eye contact with her his fists clenched ever so slightly at his side.

"I don't know what you did." Mara snarled ignoring, Corvin and Fuchsia her bushy tail was swishing from side to side. "Your little friend's not here to protect you now."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Gadget replied evenly. "Besides its payback for all of the years of torture you've put everyone else through at the orphanage." Gadget said. Mara's answer was to shove him causing him to stumble into Fuchidsa's arms before she turned around on her heel storming off in the direction of the woods.

"I hope that they lock her up somewhere good," Fuchsia said bitterly. Both Gadget and Corvin agreed with her.

The rest of the day was uneventful as Gadget sat upright at his desk in 's class the bird was pacing back and forth in front of the blackboard his talons clicking against the wooden floor.

"And as you see class there is no logical way that a cow could jump over the moon," Shun said allowing a small smile to grace his beak seeing his students for once were paying attention sitting upright at their desks. "So then there is no reason to believe in that silly nursery rhyme."

Mara and Chad sat at the back of the classroom talking in hushed tones as a loud knocking on the door caught everyone's attention. Shun spun around a look of irritation appearing on his face.

"Oh, really now there is a lesson going on!"

Shun angry at having his lesson disrupted as the door creaked open as the Matron entered the classroom with the same two policemen from earlier as Mara's fur paled ever so slightly.

"Matron!" exclaimed in shock dropping to a knee." I'm so sorry I had no idea it was you a-"

"Stand up Mr. Shun. Don't embarrass yourself further."

"I'm going to get to the point." The Matron said her gaze was zeroing in on Mara who swallowed nervously feeling the Matrons' gaze burning her fur. "Mara and Chad can you please come with us to talk to the police about a weapon that was involved in the incident a few days ago."

Gadget froze in fear. The wolf remembered with a sinking pit in his stomach that he was the one who'd told the Matron everything that had happened. He knew that there was no way that she would endanger Gadget.

Chad leaned back in his chair fixing the Matron with a small smile. "I'm sorry Matron we all know that Zerinn was the one who went attacked Mara and me," Chad said. "How can you have proof that Mara was the one who did it?"

"I have my ways, Mr. Chad."

"Oh." The smug look that was on Chad's face vanished to be replaced by confusion. "Well, then it was all Mara's idea to smuggle the weapon into this orphanage. I had nothing to do with it."

A furious snarl filled the room as Mara leaped out of her chair tackling Chad to the ground her hands were around his throat. "You liar! You planned this whole thing out from the start!"

Chad struggled to remove Mara's hands away from his throat. "You said that this plan was flawless! How dare you throw me under the bus like this!"

The Policemen ran to the back of the classroom grabbing the thrashing snarling jackal cuffing her hands leading her out of the room with her shouting various threats promising to break Chad's neck if she ever saw him again. The Matron followed the group shooting one last suspicious look at Chad struggling to his feet rubbing his hand across his throat coughing harshly sucking oxygen into his lungs.

"Well then you're now free to resume your lesson, or I think that you can give the kids an early recess Mr. Shun."

Mr. Shun turned a stunned look towards his class his brain trying to process what's just occurred at a loss for words for once. "Uh, class dismissed." Mr. Shun said making his way back into his chair as the kids hurried out of the room before their teacher could change his mind.

"Yes! With both Mara and Aster gone, Chad can't touch anyone else!" Corvin had cried out in excitement.

Gadget nodded feeling content for once. "After Zerinn was taken to the hospital, I told the Matron everything that happened." Gadget closed his eyes briefly his mind flashing back to his bloodstained hands. "She wanted to get some eyewitnesses who said they saw Mara smuggling the sword into the orphanage before she contacted the police."

Gadget tuned out Corvin and Fuchsia's conversation. His mind wandered back to the classroom spying Chad stepping out of the building his eyes narrowing as he spied Gadget who for once raised his head to meet the maned wolf's gaze. Chad naturally curled his lip storming off to a distant corner shoving a pair of kids out of the way.

Gadget felt a pit of dread in his stomach. Even with two of his tormentors, gone Gadget could sense that a storm was brewing.


End file.
